" Basira, who had come to us from Algiers, made a face. “So, then he tried to show me how to use a slide rule!” “No—for a differential equation?” Myrtle, the only other American in our group, covered her mouth and laughed until her cheeks turned red. “What a buffoon. "

― Mary Robinette Kowal , The Calculating Stars (Lady Astronaut Universe, #1)